Leader of Barcelona Jihadist attacks ‘was secret service informer’

THE leader the Jihadi terrorist group which murdered 15 people in August 2017 on Barcelona’s Rambla, was allegedly an informer for Spain’s secret service, the CNI.

Abdelbaki Es Satty allegedly stayed in touch with the service right up to when the attack was carried out, according to Spanish digital newspaper Público.es. The news outlet claims that the CNI knew that a terrorist group based in the Catalan town of Ripoll was preparing an attack.

It says it has seen evidence that confirms the intelligence agency had a relationship with the man,who was not only the cell’s leader but also the Imam of Ripoll. CNI spies were allegedly monitoring the group’s movements to and from their bomb factory. An accidental explosion at the factory in the town of Alcanar killed Satty and another member of the terrorist cell on August 16 of 2017.

In response the group made the decision to launch swift attacks and the next day improvised a van rampage on Barcelona’s iconic Rambla and a second attack in Cambrils in which one woman died.

It is thought they had originally intended to hit Barcelona with a massive bomb, possibly targeting the La Sagrada Familia church. A total of six terrorists involved in the two attacks were shot dead by police.

Público.es says it has obtained confidential intelligence reports that show in detail the journeys that the members of the terror group made for several months before the attacks.These included trips to journeys to Switzerland and Germany then France and Belgium, in December 2016. This second trip was made using the same Audi A-3 car later used in the Cambrils attack.